The Death of Me
by seaweedbrainsss
Summary: Soulmate AU in which Annabeth Chase has to choose between loving Percy Jackson and life itself, but does she really have much choice in the matter?


Annabeth Chase was so not in the mood when she saw her wrist turning different colors franticly early Sunday morning. With every new shade of green or blue or orange, her heart seemed to beat faster and faster.

She had known something was wrong with her since the moment she had woken up. Her wrist had this weird tingling sensation to it. It didn't exactly hurst as much as feel like someone was pressing down on her skin.

After diagnosing herself with a case of mental instability-she was beginning to suspect an invisible human was in her house, holding her hand or something oddly imaginative like that-she decided to stay in her apartment and watch movies while eating a lot of lemon cake that her roommate Piper always liked to get.

Of course, Annabeth rolled over to grab her phone off the bedside table, Percy would be invited to join her for her lazy Sunday that had almost become a weekly thing between them. Insane or no, they had both gotten very busy lately and rarely had any time to spend together.

Glancing at her phone she noticed a text from Piper from 1:00am saying she was spending the night at Jason's. Again. Another was from Jason himself, apologizing for constantly taking Piper away from her and rambling on about how he loves her so much but also respects Annabeth...etc, etc. The text was also sent at an unreasonable hour, so he must have been drunk and pushed by Piper to say sorry about something that Annabeth honestly couldn't care less about.

Jason was a super great guy, and really loved Piper just as much as she loved him. They were high school sweethearts,and had been dating for gods know how long. Any day now, she figured a proposal would happen. They were such a perfect couple, and made each other so happy, Annabeth couldn't possibly be mad that she was seeing a little less of Piper these days. She also wasn't complaining about having the apartment to herself.

"Maybe it's time to finally invite a guy over," Piper had mentioned with a raised eyebrow and a suggestive smirk.

She had brushed off the idea quickly, "No way. Just...No way." Piper didn't buy it. "Just no." Piper pouted.

And that was that.

Annabeth was different from most people these days, unlike everyone else, she was hell bent on waiting to have any type of romantic relationship until she met her soulmate. And then, of course, the romantic relationship would be with him and only him.

She just didn't see the point in dating if you knew it wasn't going anywhere. A lot of her friends thought differently, arguing they weren't going to wait around for someone for 25 years, give or take, to experience love. Not everyone was as lucky as Piper and Jason, who had met each other when they were only 14 years old.

At the thought of her soulmate, Annabeth looked down at her wrist, where a timer was slowly ticking down the years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until she met her soulmate. Right now, her time read: 00:03:11:56:05:41 She had always been unsure about these timers, created by the government so basically all love wasn't fate, it was fact.

She had about 3 months until she met him, and couldn't possibly be more nervous. What if she didn't like him? What if he didn't like her? But soul mates were dependable 99% of the time, and gods forbid she was put into that unlucky 1%.

Looking back at her phone, she had one more text from Percy, just eleven minutes ago.

the store, need anything?

Knowing Percy, he probably had a max of 30 dollars in his bank account, but he was always willing to go into debt for his friends. Annabeth didn't know whether to be concerned or endeared.

She texted him back quickly after telling Piper and Jason to just get married already because, like she had already said, living on her own wasn't exactly unappealing.

I'm all good, thanks tho. Wanna come over and watch tangled w me?

His reply came almost immediately after she sent it.

I thought you'd never ask.

and pls tell me you have lemon cake

Annabeth smiled to herself.

do you even know me? My kitchen is always stocked

yess Piper is a food god I wish my roommate was like that

She honestly wondered how he typed so fast.

are you kidding!? She texted, walking downstairs to her living room to set up the movie. Doesn't Grover make enchiladas for you all the time?

Annabeth wasn't sure whether him not responding was because he was driving or because he knew she was right. Either way, she smiled.

...

Percy didn't even say hello to her when he walked into her apartment. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice her as if the door had magically opened itself. He walked, no sprinted, into her small kitchen and opened the fridge door, grabbing the box of lemon cake and plopping down onto the couch.

"Sally tried so hard to teach you manners. I don't know how you never learned." Annabeth smirked before getting two plastic forks and sitting down next to him.

He took it without hesitation and immediately dug into the cake.

"I have manners, I just choose who I use them around." He defended, chewing with his mouth open as if to emphasize his point.

She pushed her hand to his chin and successfully closed his mouth. His sea green eyes glared at her with fake anger. Annabeth took the moment to look her best friend over.

From here, a smattering of freckles were visible along the bridge of his nose, and he was extremely tan from hanging at the pool almost religiously. Percy also refused to get a haircut until the raven-colored locks were falling into his eyes. He had really dark, long lashes, especially for a guy. It made his eyes pop, though they were already vibrant on their own.

Yes. Annabeth might be mildly attracted to her best friend. Maybe even liked him. Maybe even loved him. It was complicated, and he was strictly off limits anyway, having met his soulmate a couple months back.

Which was unfortunately not her.

She had been crushing on him for years now, and most of the time forgot about it. But in moments like this, when he was still a little tired from waking up too early, and his hair was all messy and sunbeams were filtering through the window illuminating his face, she couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that Percy Jackson was gorgeous.

The moment stopped when she felt that annoying sensation flare up slightly in her wrist, as if the invisible person was telling her to snap out of it. Annabeth grabbed her hand, examining her entire arm to see if anything looked off.

"You okay?" Percy leaned in, looking where she was looking and wearing a confused expression.

It was adorable.

"Ya, I'm fine, lets just watch the movie."

She could tell he didn't believer her. Despite her best efforts, Percy could read Annabeth like an open book. Lying was pointless, but for some reason alarm bells were going off in her head to keep this from him. Her expression must have conveyed enough because he dropped the subject.

"Ya, lets start. I haven't seen this one in ages."

"We watched it three days ago."

"I know," he said with a shake of his head. "Way too long."

Ten minutes into the movie, Annabeth got that feeling in her wrist again, and quickly looked at it. This time, there was something there. Without warning, Annabeth got up and ran to the bathroom, Percy calling her name as she went.

She leaned against the wall and stared and stared at her wrist, she had never seen anything like it in her entire life. The area surrounding her timer was changing colors faster than she could count. From red to pink to purple to blue to green to yellow to orange the pattern seemed to go.

What?

She briefly wondered if her soulmate was dying or something. Of course, that wasn't a possibility, she knew what it was like to see what a timer did when someone's soulmate died, and it certainly was not this.

Percy knocked on the door softly. "Annabeth, are you alright? Is it your wrist again?"

Great.

Just great.

He knew. Oh my gods. What if Percy already knew what this meant, and it was something super embarrassing.

What if her soulmate was gay?

What else could the rainbow mean?

A lot of things, Annabeth, calm down.

"Wisegirl?" This time, his voice sounded really concerned through the doorway. Using her nickname somehow made her more nervous. For some reason, she couldn't let Percy see her wrist. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she wasn't going to let him

"I think you should leave."

"What? No, I'm not leaving you. Tell me what's going on."

One glance at her weird rainbow wrist had her mind completely made up.

"Please. I just want to be alone." It came out harsher than she would have liked, but soon enough she heard the front door open and close.

Annabeth stayed pressed against the doorway for a long while after that.

...

Once her lap top finally decided to load, she quickly typed in "what does it mean when your timer changes colors?" into the search bar. Surprisingly, a lot of answers appeared. She clicked on the first link that popped up.

If your timer changes colors, you are pretty unlucky. You have a bad case of a rare disease called Colos Syndrome. It is a side effect from the soulmate timers created by the US federal department of divorce sustainment back in 2038. The beginning symptoms for Colos is the obvious flashing of various color around your timer, and an odd sensation in the originating area. Over the course of a few months, the tingling feeling will grow into severe pain throughout the entire body and eventually lead to death.

If you have the syndrome, it is because you are deeply in love with someone who has been paired with a different soulmate. The only known cure is to fall out of that love, or have that person truthfully confess their romantic love for you in return.

No one but the person diagnosed can see the color changes, not even the one the person is in love with, until the very end of the persons life. At that time, the colors appear on the victim's love's wrist as well.

The article went on way longer, talking about how rare the syndrome was among people eligible for it, etc, etc. Annabeth closed her laptop, not wanting to read another word.

She felt as if her throat was closing up, it was hard to get air in and out. Her breathing was labored.

She was going to die? In only a few months?

How could this have happened?

Annabeth wasn't even sure she liked Percy that way sometimes, and now she has some random website telling her she is going to die because she is so deeply in love. She quickly scrolled through some more links, all which said the same thing.

Her heart was pounding right out of her chest, and her head was hurting a lot. Annabeth felt so overwhelmed. She was going to die.

Annabeth Chase was going to die because there was no way she was going to be able to cure herself. The articles were right, she was just too in love with him.

...

The next evening, after coming home from a stressful day of work at a local architecture company, she kicked off her heals and glanced at her phone for what seemed to be the thousandth time that hour. She currently had 160 text messages from Percy alone ranging anywhere from I'm really worried ab u Beth, what can I do? to does this shirt make me look like a zoo keeper? I don't know what to wear on my date w Rachel send help plsssss

Annabeth knew she needed to answer him, but she didn't know how. She had worn a short sleeved blouse today, her timer on full exposure, and no one in the office had said a thing. At least the syndrome allowed her to keep this to herself. It wasn't like she couldn't see Percy because of her wrist, more because she knew every time she looked at him she would be reminded of the fact that she was dying.

She also was keeping her distance in hope to cure herself. Not seeing Percy would help her fall out of love, right?

Despite herself, Annabeth began texting Percy.

Because reasons.

She finally decided to go the casual route, texting: I'm getting zoo keeper vibes for sure, go with something black, Rachel likes that color on you.

Anxiety filled her as she waited for his reply. It was almost immediate.

Look who's alive. You scared me earlier.

Believe me, she thought bitterly, I'm scared too.

Talking about Percy on a date with Rachel, his soulmate obviously, was getting harder and harder to bare. Answering him had been a bad idea, but she pressed forward.

Ya, I'm sorry ab that, dad issues came up again

I wasn't expecting to brake down like that, it wasn't fair how I treated you

She hated that she was lying to him, especially about her relationship with her dad. Her and her father were actually in a good place for once. Even though it was fake, just saying it made her feel like she was wronging her father. And it was also unfair to Percy.

It's fine. I'm always here for you if you want to talk or watch tangled or anything. You're not alone;)

Of course, he just had to have the perfect answer. Annabeth groaned and put her head in her hands. Which was a bad idea because it gave her a perfect view of her stupid glowing timer. She wanted to rip it out of her skin. Instead she settled for eating the rest of the lemon cake.

Piper was not happy when she got home.

...

Nervous was not a word that usually described Annabeth when she was with Percy. In fact, he was the only person on the planet who seemed to be able to calm her down when she was stressed. This was uncharted territory for her, because suddenly Percy was the cause of her stress.

She was seeing him in person for the first time since Sunday, and Annbeth was nervous. No, Annabeth was terrified. She felt as if the moment she saw him, she'd want to spill her guts about this whole disease thing. He was her best friend, she told him literally everything.

She also knew that if Percy found out, whether she told him the person she loved was him or not, he would figure that part out. And when he did, he would blame himself for her inevitable death. It was so like Percy to take the weight of the world on his shoulders, her heart clenched.

After staring at his red apartment door for a healthy five minutes, she finally mustered up the courage to knock. Annabeth hadn't even finished her usual four taps before the door was bursting open.

Strong arms wrapped around her, Percy's chin going to rest on top of her blonde hair. She leaned into him immediately, sighing with contentment. She could hear his heart beating loudly through his shirt, almost as if he was as nervous to see her as she was to see him. The thought made her relax.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth muttered into his chest. She kept thinking about the way she snapped at him in the bathroom, like her mind subconsciously knew what she would soon find out and was telling her to stay away from him. She cringed at the mental picture of him silently padding his way to her door, feeling hurt and thinking he did something wrong. It made her hug him tighter.

"You have nothing to apologize for. You're dad's an idiot, what's new?" He chuckled, and she forced a laugh along with him.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat. "I'm thinking about quitting my job, becoming a full time zoo keeper."

She hummed against him. "You already have the shirt, what else would you need?"

"That's what I'm thinking. I'd make a pretty hot zoo keeper, wouldn't I?"

Annabeth ruffled his hair with her hands. "If your head grows any larger, we'll have to start cutting some of it off."

"That's sounds painful." Percy said as he dragged her fully into his home.

"Exactly my point."

"Ouch. I thought best friends were supposed to be nice."

She shook her head and smiled up at him as he fell onto his couch, pulling her down with him.

"No, no. That is what soulmates are for."

"Oh ya?"

"Ya."

"Then what exactly are you for?"

She pretended to take a moment to think about it. "I'm here to make your life a living hell."

"Wow." He muttered, pressing a kiss to her cheek that left her cursing him in her head. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably die." His laugh made her glow with pride.

And just like that, they were back to normal.

They were still best friends, Annabeth thought. Just best friends that had an impending expiration date only one of them knew about.

...

"Is it weird to be jealous of a brick? I'm just saying the way he was looking at it was not normal," Piper groaned.

Fourth of July was approaching fast, which usually made Annabeth giddy with excitement, even at twenty-three she still couldn't get enough of that holiday, but this year, Fourth of July just meant she was that much closer to dying.

After doing more research and even visiting a Timer Doctor, she was given an official date of death. It was much like a due date for a baby, not an exact science, but a rough estimate. It seemed like the world was screwing her or something because there was no way her luck was this bad. Annabeth's approximate date of death was August 18th.

August 18th was Percy's birthday.

To top it all off, her wrist had gone from weird feeling to slight pain whenever she moved or used it. Sometimes she closed her eyes and tried to picture the same pain, but ten times worse. Would that be what she felt in the end?

"Annabeth?" She snapped out of her thoughts, glancing at a concerned Piper pacing the room. "Are you even listening?"

"Of course I'm listening."

"What did I just say, then?"

She looked down at her lap. Piper huffed in annoyance before bringing the back of her hand to Annabeth's forehead.

"Something about a brick?"

"Are you feeling okay?" She continued her pacing after making sure Annabeth didn't have a temperature.

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine." Piper pulled her brown choppy hair into a quick bun, glaring at a certain hair that fell out of her up-do.

"Well I am." She defended, crossing her arms over her chest in order to hide her timer. She knew people couldn't see the ever changing rainbow, but that didn't mean she wasn't self conscious about it.

"I just..." Piper stopped like she couldn't exactly grasp the right words. "I just feel like lately you've been really distant, and spacey. Like you're always thinking about something else. You're always glancing at your timer like it's going to blow up in your face."

Oh my gods. Piper knew.

How did she know?

Piper sat down on Annabeth's bed with her and looked deep into her roommates eyes.

"When my timer had as little time on it left as yours does now, do you remember how freaked I was?" Annabeth nodded. "But then I met Jason, just little freshman me, and he was this huge, popular junior on the football team. I should have felt out of place with him but I didn't. Timers work. They truly help you find your soulmate. I know you're scared to meet him, but just think, somewhere around the world, a hot, smart, wonderful guy is scared to meet you. I love you, Beth, and you should be excited about meeting your soulmate." She stood up again. "He's the love of your freaking life for gods sakes!"

Annabeth let out an internal sigh of relief. She didn't know. Maybe before this whole Colos Syndrome, meeting her soulmate would have been her biggest worry. She pretended that Piper's pep talk had calmed her down.

"You're right, Pipes. This man is the love of my freaking life."

Piper squealed and clapped her hands in happiness. "I can't wait to go on double dates together!"

Annabeth stared down at her timer. 00:03:01:22:51:07 She didn't have to do much math.

She was going to die before she ever got to meet this soulmate of hers.

...

Fourth of July had finally arrived. All of Annabeth's friends were meeting at Rachel's house for their annual barbecue.

Percy's soulmate had insisted on hosting, not so subtly mentioning she had the largest house. Everyone nodded along to that, but only her and Percy and Piper had ever been to her home.

To put it lightly, it was huge. The rent per month probably costed more than Ananbeth and Piper's entire total cost of their apartment.

She wasn't jealous. She was sure of it.

Sort of.

The whole gang was always super festive about this holiday, and everyone was always there. When your group has so many people in it, it's hard to get everyone together. This was the one time where literally everyone came. And it was also going to be her last Fourth. She was sad about it.

As soon as Piper and Annabeth arrived, Rachel greeted them, ushering the two of them in and guiding them to the backyard. Piper spotted Jason and went up to him quickly, pressing a kiss to his mouth.

Leo groaned from his spot next to them. "I did not sign up for this." He moaned, walking over to Frank, probably to annoy him more than anything.

"Glad to see you're having a good time, Leo." Percy said, pulling up behind Annabeth and kissing her on the cheek.

He had always done stuff like that, but lately it was getting on her nerves.

Don't you know I'm in love with you and trying desperately to fall out of it? She wanted to scream.

He smiled down at her.

Her wrist throbbed back in reply.

...

This was not fair. In fact, this was the absolute opposite of fair. Percy was currently shirtless, skin glistening with beads of water, curtesy of the pool, and he looked... hot. And also very not single.

Annabeth scolded herself for even thinking like that. Rachel was literally right there next to her. Also checking out the view. Which was completely normal considering said view was her boyfriend.

"Cannonball!" Leo shouted, running into the pool and splashing both her and Rachel with water from their perfectly dry lawn chairs beside the pool.

The two girls exchanged glances, rolling their eyes and not so nicely glaring at Leo. He just shrugged and went back under the water, using his hands to mimic a shark fin and going over to Hazel and Piper.

Percy laughed, jogging over to them. "If it isn't my two favorite girls," he announced, kissing Annabeth on the cheek yet again, and then kissing Rachel on the lips.

She didn't miss the way Rachel frowned at the way Percy said two favorite girls.

Annabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't a little smug about that.

"Hey babe," before Percy had pulled away too far, Rachel drew him back in, kissing him fiercely. Annabeth decided to walk away before her heart could break into any more pieces.

She waded into the pool, going over to Hazel, Piper, and now Thalia who had just arrived.

Percy's cousin took one look at her and her face split into a grin. "Been too long, Chase."

"It has, hasn't it."

"How much time do you have left?" Thals asked.

Annabeth immediately knew what she was talking about, showing the three girls her wrist.

"Down to two months, dang."

Annabeth nodded, feigning excitement.

"What?"

Percy was behind them again, back in the pool. His lips were slightly swollen from him and Rachel's kiss earlier. Annabeth swallowed thickly.

"Ya, soon little Beth isn't gunna be single anymore."

Percy looked shocked, Leo came over too, examining her wrist. Percy did the same, even tracing his fingers over the numbers. The colors glowed brighter at his touch. As well as the pain. She tried not to wince.

"You okay, Perc?" Jason asked, coming over followed by Frank, Rayna, and the Stoll twins.

"Ya, all good." He said, though it wasn't very convincing. "I just...didn't realize how little time you had left."

Percy and Annabeth talked about pretty much everything together, except for timers. It had always been a touchy subject, one they tended to stray away from. As a result, neither really knew how far along someone was.

When Percy called her a few months ago, saying he had met his soulmate, Annabeth was shocked. She could have sworn he had a couple more months than left.

"I'm really happy for you, Annabeth." Rachel said, looking at Percy to agree with her, but he was still staring at her timer.

Somehow, almost everyone had gathered around them, glancing between her and Percy, as if waiting for something to happen.

"I need a drink," he finally muttered, getting out of the pool and walking inside.

Thalia turned to Piper and whispered not so quietly, "what the hell was that?"

Annabeth was wondering the same thing.

...

By the time night fell, all the chairs had been set up around the fire pit, and everyone was roasting marshmallows. Piper and Jason were huddled under the same chair, sharing a blanket and everything. Annabeth and Hazel cooed at the pair, while Leo and Travis made gagging noises.

Everyone laughed at that, even Clarisse, and the couple pouted in the exact same way only added fuel to the flame.

Rachel was somewhere inside the house, trying to find more marshmellows, so Annabeth figured now was her best chance to talk to Percy. Ever since that weird moment earlier, he had seemed to be avoiding her.

"Hey."

He looked up at her and smiled. "Hey."

"Don't go thinking too much on me, your brain can't handle it."

He waved his rotating stick at her. "I take offense to that."

"You'll live."

"Only with your help, I recall."

Percy patted the seat next to him.

She sat down, leaning into his warmth slightly. "Are you okay? You seemed a little shocked back there."

He nodded, tilting his head up towards the stars and sighing. "You know when certain things happen, and you kinda just feel like the rug is being pulled out from under your feet?"

Annabeth nodded. She had been feeling that a lot recently. "Well, I felt that today. I don't even know why." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I feel like...once you meet you're soulmate, we are gunna drift apart or something. I don't know. It's dumb."

She looked him straight in the eyes. "You're right, it is dumb. You're gunna be my best friend until the day I die," which was not too far away. "Just because I meet the love of my life doesn't mean I won't make time for you." He nodded.

"And besides, you and me already make it work with Rachel."

"Ya," Percy muttered, glancing away from her again. "I guess I just have this weird fear that I'm gunna lose you."

"Hey," she turned his face so he was forced to look at her. Annabeth didn't miss the multiple heads that were turning their way. "You're not going to lose me, okay?"

It tasted like a lie.

Which, she guessed, it was.

...

By the time the fireworks had begun to go off, Annabeth was back in her own seat and Rachel was with Percy again.

The way things should be. Annabeth scolded herself.

As the explosions continued in loud pops, she listened to Nico tell a story to the whole group about that one time he had accidentally walked in on Hazel and Frank. Frank was laughing along with everyone else, but Hazel wasn't so happy.

"It was a nightmare," she groaned. "Are you people forgetting that's my brother?" She pointed at Nico. Annabeth burst out laughing at that.

Suddenly, Jason was standing up, lifting his beer can as if to make a toast. "I have an announcement to make. Piper, " he reached out his hand in a gesture for her to come up,"I'm gunna need a little help with this one.

Jason's girlfriend looked thoroughly confused as she walked up to him.

"Oh my gods." Hazel whispered to her, squeezing Annabeth's hand.

"Go Jace!" Percy whooped, and Jason shot him a glare.

"Piper, I remember meeting you for the first time at freshman orientation, watching my timer tick down the final seconds before glancing up at you. You were a vision in that white sundress, your hair all curled, and a dazzling smile that blew me away. I've watched you grow from that pretty girl into a beautiful, strong, intelligent women, and couldn't be happier to have you as my soulmate." Piper was already in tears, Jason tried to wipe them away but eventually gave up after he realized she wasn't stopping.

"Not only have I watched you grow, but I've watched us grow. Every day, I fall more and more in love with you. I don't want to spend another second without you." He reached into his back pocket, and slowly kneeled down onto one knee. He opened up a black velvet box to reveal a diamond ring. Everyone started screaming. "Piper McClean, will you make me the happiest man on earth and be m-"

"YES" Piper screamed before he could even finish asking. "Oh my gods yes!"

The cheering got even louder as Jason slid the beautiful ring onto Piper's shaking finger. While they kissed, Piper showed the crowd her left hand, the ring on full display.

Annabeth glanced around and her eyes landed on Percy, who quickly looked at her. 'Finally' she mouthed to him.

He smiled.

She loved him.

He was going to be the death of her.

Literally.

...

Two weeks later, her wrist-no her entire hand-was in a lot of pain. It was getting hard to not contort her face or grab her wrist whenever a certain wave brushed through her veins.

Annabeth woke up feeling even worse than usual, and decided to chalk it up as a sickness and skip work. By 'woke up', she meant that she had gotten pulled out of bed by the severe pain at three in the morning. She was now on the couch, clutching her wrist and gritting her teeth, trying to think of anything, anything, other than this idiot timer malfunction.

Her phone began to ring from on her lap, a picture of Percy laughing candidly at the beach lit up, and the title 'seaweed brain' was at the top.

Annabeth quickly wondered if answering was a good idea. Her plan of falling out of love was going absolutely terrible, but did she honestly ever expect it to work? Her and Percy had been even more attached than usual. Rachel was on a long vacation in Bora Bora with her family, so work was now the only thing keeping them from constantly talking and hanging out.

She answered on the fifth ring.

"Percy, please tell me why you are awake at 4am?"

It wasn't like he had to deal with Colos Syndrome.

"I don't even know..." There was some shuffling from his side, as if he was getting out of bed. "Sorry to bother you, it was stupid anyway. Go back to sleep."

Annabeth decided not to mention she had been up for almost an hour.

"No, no it's fine. Tell me what's going on?"

"I just...have this weird feeling that something was wrong with you. Like you were in danger or distress or something? I can't even describe it."

She didn't know what to say. It was like the gods were giving her an invitation to spill her guts to him. How could he possibly have known?

Then Annabeth remembered back along the eighteen years they had been best friends. Things like this happened every once in a while.

Once in the third grade, Percy came to school with two pencils instead of one, which was actually a very big deal considering he was not very organized as an eight year old. Or as a twenty-three year old. That day happened to be the one time Annabeth forgot to bring her pencil case to school. She ended up using Percy's extra one without even realizing the coincidence.

When they were sophomores at a pool party, Percy was about to bite into a brownie when Annabeth forced him to stop. She had no idea why, all she knew was that he couldn't eat that brownie. Later, Katie Gardner told them she had put almonds in the batch.

Percy was deathly allergic to nuts.

Even then, neither of them noticed. There must have been at least a dozen of these instances, sprinkled throughout the years. And this was just the latest one.

And probably the last.

"Actually, I've been feeling really sick today-"

"On my way."

Annabeth couldn't suppress her smile.

...

It took him almost twenty-five minutes to get from his building to hers, which was only a couple blocks away. She wasn't exactly complaining, but where was he?

Percy walked into her apartment, not bothering to knock this time. When they first moved into their respective homes, the other was given a key to their apartment. Though they didn't usually use it unless necessary.

He was carrying a plastic bad from Walgreens, which would explain why he was late.

"I was an idiot and forgot to ask exactly what you are sick with. So I got the works." He started emptying the contents of the bag onto the counter.

Annabeth decided to diagnose herself with a harsh cold, because anything to do with the stomach meant she couldn't eat anything. That would be tragic.

Percy had brought medicine for every known common sickness to man, as well as soup, water, energy drinks, a bunch of ice cream, and lemon cake. Of course. Her hearts swelled. Who woke up at ungodly hours and got all of this for their friend?

Percy Jackson. Saying his name made her mentally swoon.

She had a problem.

After putting on Tangled (they would never get tired of it) and putting Annabeth's hair into a bun, Percy pulled her into his lap and kissed her shoulder.

She definitely didn't deserve him.

"No," Annabeth pulled away. "You'll catch my cold." She sniffled for effect.

"I don't really care." And he grabbed her waist and brought her back down.

She landed on her hand awkwardly, pain shot through it quickly. She audibly gasped.

"Hey, you okay?" His eyes were concerned, roaming her entire figure like he was trying to assess a threat.

"Ya, I'm fine. My throat just really hurts."

She hated lying to him.

Annabeth nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck.

"How's Rachel?" The name tasted bitter on her mouth, but she figured if she was going to hang out with Percy platonically, talking about his soulmate wasn't a bad idea.

"She's probably good. Vacationing on the beach for a full month has to be at least good."

"You haven't talked to her?"

"No," Percy shifted uncomfortably beneath her.

"Why?"

He shrugged.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before he piped up.

"Anything new with you?"

Sometimes Annabeth wondered if he knew. Every time they spoke, he always somehow slipped in an opportunity for her to tell him the truth. And every time, she seriously considered.

All the secrets seemed to be driving a wedge between them, and she was starting to think she wasn't the only one that felt that way.

"Not really."

He huffed. "Well, I can't relate, I feel like suddenly everyone's getting married. It's really bothering me."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "That's what's new with you?"

"Yes! I think I'm having a quarter life crisis or something."

Well buddy, I'm going through an end of the life crisis so top that.

"A quarter life crisis?" She decided on saying instead.

"Yes."

"Explain."

He didn't miss a beat, "First, Frank and Hazel. Now Piper and Jason and Grover and Juniper, everyone's settling down!"

Annabeth slapped him, hard enough to leave a mark.

"Perseus Jackson." He visibly sank into the couch.

"Yes?"

"How did you not tell me Grover and Juniper were engaged."

Percy looked up at her sheepishly. "Shoot. That was supposed to be on the down low."

"Hey, best friends tell each other everything."

Except that my love for you is killing me.

"Surprise." It came out as a question more than anything. She just flicked his nose.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," he gave her a pointed glare. She glared back. "I feel like everyone's just going to get married and then build their own lives, leaving out friend group in the dust. People with babies and wives don't have time to hang out all the time."

"So student loans and grossly underpaying starter jobs aren't enough to scare you off, but a wedding is?"

Percy sat up more, keeping Annabeth pressed against him. His hair had been recently cut, so it only barely brushed the top of his brows.

"Hey, I don't choose what my quarter life crisis is." He held his hands up in defense.

"I beg to differ. You're quarter life crisis is dumb."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was pick on Percy day."

"Every day is pick on Percy day."

He pouted so adorably she almost forgot the pain in her wrist.

"Don't give me that look, you love it."

"That is definitely a lie."

"I don't think it is."

Silence as they had an intense staring contest.

"Okay," Percy gave in. "Maybe I like it a little."

His fingers brushed over her wrist, right where her timer was.

The touch seemed oddly intimate.

...

Annabeth had been sure she was home alone when she broke down in tears.

She had about one week left, and the shooting pain was almost all the way up her arm to her shoulder. She felt like volts of electricity were rattling through her every time she moved.

Coming to terms with your premature death was even harder than it already appeared. Annabeth wanted to spend time saying goodbye to every last one of her friends and family without actually saying goodbye, but right now she couldn't even get out of bed. Her timers vibrant colors were getting brighter and brighter to the point where it was difficult to look at. She honestly wondered how no one else saw it.

Annabeth didn't even know why exactly she had started crying. But before she knew it her tears had turned into full out sobs, and she just wanted the pain to stop,stop stop.

She briefly thought about taking her life. She was going to die anyway, this would be a lot less painful than what her timer had in store for her.

But no. She couldn't do that to her friends. To her dad. To Percy. They would all blame it on themselves, thinking they should have seen her suicidal signs or something like that. Percy was already going to feel awful when he found out why she had passed, she didn't need everyone she knew wondering what they could have done to change the outcome.

When Piper rushed into her room, Annabeth should have been surprised. Instead, as her roommate wrapped her arms around her crying friend, she just sobbed harder. Piper didn't say anything for a while, just held her until she had calmed down enough to speak.

"Tell me what's going on, Beth."

She thought about all the times she had wanted to tell someone about what was happening. Percy, Piper, Thalia, Hazel. Every moment she was with them all she wanted to do was let them know. But that was cruel. This was her burden. And she wanted to carry it alone.

And yet.

Yet.

Annabeth also found herself realizing that she had all this support. And all these people who loved her. Despite that, she felt that if she didn't tell anyone, she'd be dying alone anyway.

If she couldn't tell Percy, who better to spill to than Piper?

"I'm in love with him." Her voice wavered on the word love. She had never spoken the words out loud before.

Piper didn't even have to ask who. It was that obvious. "Oh Annabeth. It's gunna be okay. Your timer will run out next month, and you'll completely forget all about your love for Percy."

She smiled, but Annabeth didn't return the sentiment.

"No. No. You don't understand. Loving him is killing me."

"It's not killing you. You're just sad you have to watch the man you love love someone else."

She was getting so frustrated. But of course Piper wouldn't understand. Unless she had it herself, Annabeth would have gone her whole life not knowing it existed.

But she did know.

And she did have it.

She lifted up her wrist, where Piper saw her timer and Annabeth saw her death sentence. "My timer is literally killing me." She swallowed. "You can't see it, but it's turning all these different colors, it never pauses on one shade for more than a second. And it's causing me pain. Gods, so much pain. It's all because of a syndrome called Colos. And...and it's terminal."

She only stared back at her as if Annabeth was insane.

"If you don't believe me look it up. It's called Colos Syndrome."

As if in a trance, her friend walked over to the desk, opening up the laptop that was sitting on it. She typed into the search bar, and then began to read.

Annabeth's stomach was swarming with butterflies. What have I done.

What seemed like hours later, Piper closed the laptop and turned to face her.

"How much time do you have left?"

Her voice was smooth, but restrained. Like she was holding back a floodgate of tears just like Annabeth.

"About a week." She muttered weekly.

Piper quickly called Jason, cancelled her date, and held Annabeth while they cried and cried and cried.

...

Piper was sworn to secrecy the next day. Annabeth practically drilled it in on her. No one was to know. Not even Jason. And especially not Percy.

Telling someone was actually a good idea. She vented to Piper a lot, and her friend was always there when people complained that she kept canceling plans. By the time August 15th rolled around, she wasn't able to get out of bed anymore. Her friends were concerned, she just told them it was a bad flu. When in reality the whole lefts side of her body felt like it was on fire.

Percy visited her every day, taking off a lot of time from work to be with her. Annabeth had basically given up on the idea of curing herself.

She was going to die.

It was time to except that.

When she woke up that day, Percy was already in her room, sitting on the edge of her bed. He smiled softly when he noticed she was awake.

"Hey, Wise Girl."

She nodded. "Seaweed Brain."

He helped her sit up, tear pricked her eyes at the pain. It had spread to her head now, giving her a terrible migraine.

"My stomach really hurts." She whispered when he looked confused.

"Annabeth." He sighed.

"Percy." She mimicked him.

He looked away with a hard expression. "I'm not in the mood."

She stiffened at his tone. Did he know? No. Right?

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is my best friend has been lying to me." Annabeth was going to kill Piper. She asked for one thing, and that girl had to tell Jason. Jason probably told Percy, and Percy probably figured out her love was for him.

"What?" Her voice came out really high and weird.

"That's the thing," he ran a hand through his hair, something he always did when he was frustrated. "I don't know what."

Oh thank the gods.

"Nothing's going on, Percy, I'm just sick."

"No, Annabeth. Don't play dumb with me. I know you. Hell! I probably know you better than you know yourself. Just tell me what's really going on."

She didn't respond.

"Please."

"I can't." She finally whispered.

He stood up and threw his hands in the air. "Why?"

"I just can't."

"I thought best friends didn't keep secrets." He said while glaring at the floor.

So fragile, this conversation. She wondered if it would be better to break it by lying or telling the truth.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, finalizing her resolve.

She just couldn't tell him. It would hurt too much.

"Then I guess we're not best friends."

"I guess we're not." She mumbled back.

"In fact," Percy whispered as he went for the door. "Maybe we shouldn't be friends at all."

Something in Annabeth flashed with anger. It was one secret, and suddenly he wanted to just throw their relationship away? It must have been a weaker friendship than she thought.

"Fine by me."

"Okay," he opened the door.

"Okay."

Seconds later, the front door slammed shut so hard, she heard a picture frame fall off the wall and shatter.

She flinched.

...

Percy's birthday came and went, and Annabeth lived on. She didn't know exactly what it felt like to die, obviously you only do it once, and then you're dead.

She woke up on August 21st with one thought in mind.

I'm going to die today.

Annabeth felt it in her very bones. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her. The agony was unbearable, and before she had even talked one breath she began to scream.

She was burning. Someone had dumped her in a pit of fire or something because this was hell. She was in hell. The worst part was that as much pain as her body felt, her heart felt more. Life without Percy, or life in which Percy hates you was a life Annabeth didn't want to be a part of.

She loved him. And he had walked away.

She had let him walk away.

Piper and Jason were already in her room, Jason looking thoroughly confused as she screamed and screamed, and Piper crying.

"Hold on! Just hold on a little longer." Piper was saying.

Everything was becoming blurry, Jason's moved were sluggish as he called someone. Piper was shaking her and shaking her, Annabeth's ears ringing.

Percy.

She tried to say it out loud but her mouth couldn't seem to form words. She felt something warm and sticky dribble down her lips. Piper touched it, pulling her fingers away to reveal crimson red liquid.

Blood.

She was coughing up blood?

The pain from her wrist flared up even more, spreading to the rest of her body. She tried to grab her hand, but it was as if Annabeth couldn't move. Like she was numb all over.

But she wasn't numb.

She could feel everything.

Percy.

In her head she was screaming but no sound actual came out.

Annabeth heard sirens, but she could have been imagining it. She felt someone shaking her, yelling her name. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was her timer, beeping and saying 00:00:00:00:00:00 in colorful font.

Percy.

And then there was nothing.

...

Colos Syndrome? What in the gods name was that?

Percy sat in an old, uncomfortable hospital chair, replaying the last few hours in his mind. He had just finished braking up with Rachel over the phone when he got the call.

Yes. He had broken up with his soulmate. He was probably an idiot, but he just couldn't pretend to love her anymore.

Piper had sounded really shaky on the phone, and kept braking down in tears. He had to ask her to repeat herself like ten times. And even then he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He had driven to the hospital in ten minutes, despite the fact that his apartment was twenty minutes away. All he could think of was that Annabeth was dying.

She was dying because of him.

Percy looked at his timer. It had been acting weird all morning, changing colors and getting weird tingly feelings. Colos Syndrome, or something dumb like that. But Piper hadn't said anything about the timers actual time changing. It had been at zero seconds ever since he met Rachel, and suddenly it was changing time constantly from one second to 500 years.

About an hour ago, it had gone back to zero. He had thought it was because he ended things with Rachel, but now he new. Annabeth's colors were being transferred to his wrist. She was dying.

He looked up to see Dr. Chase come out of her room. He walked over to Percy and the rest of the people here for Annabeth.

"Who's next?" He asked. Percy was up and walking before he finished.

Everyone was getting their chance to say good bye. And then the doctors would pull the plug on her life support.

He wasn't prepared for what he saw when he opened the door. She was hooked up to so many cords, an oxygen mask around her mouth and nose. Her skin was deathly pale, almost yellow, and a thin layer of sweat coated her face and arms.

Despite the circumstances, she was still beautiful.

Seven years of loving her.

Eighteen years of friendship.

And he had thrown it all away last week.

Now he would never get the chance to make it up to her. Percy mentally cursed timers every second of his life. His should have stopped when he was five years old and saw a small blonde girl with big grey eyes telling him he was writing the letter 'g' backwards. But it kept on ticking.

There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but they all got stuck in his throat. Instead, Percy took her hand, leaned down, and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Annabeth Chase."

He walked out and told Piper it was her turn.

...

She had been in silence and darkness for a while, so it was a pretty large shock when she heard a beeping noise in all the nothingness.

Then light flooded in, and the beeping got faster and-

Annabeth's eyes snapped open, she took a huge breath. There was a mask over her face, she clawed it off quickly and sat up. Hazel was next to her, staring like she was some sort of alien.

"Hazel," she rasped.

Her friend broke down in tears. "Oh my gods oh my gods oh my gods."

"Hazel?" She glanced around the foreign room. "Where are we?"

Hazels small figure was surprisingly strong as she engulfed Annabeth in a hug. It lasted a few seconds before she gasped and pulled away.

"How do you feel? Does it hurt?"

"Hazel."

"Do you want me to get you anything? Is it hard to breath? Maybe you should put the mask back on."

"Hazel."

She stopped and waited for Annabeth to talk.

"I'm fine."

"You're fine?"

"I'm fine." She confirmed.

The door opened and closed and a young man in a white coat came beside Hazel.

"I'm going to need a moment alone with the patient, Hazel."

She nodded and walked out, tears still running down her cheeks.

"Hi, Annabeth. I'm Dr. Solace, but you can just call me Will." He went around with a clipboard, taking notes about the data on all the different machines surrounding her.

"Hello, Will." He smiled.

"I'm sure you're a little confused. It's very rare we get a patient with your diagnosis, and even more rare that they come out alive. The last few hours are probably really fuzzy, but that's perfectly normal."

Will took out a stethoscope and began listening to her heartbeat. "If you haven't guessed already, you're in the hospital because of your Colos Syndrome. It's not every day you see someone come back to life, even in my profession. You're one lucky woman." He shook his head.

"How am I..." Annabeth swallowed. "How am I alive. I was supposed to die. Permanently."

"Are you disappointed?" The doctor asked.

"No. Gods no, of course not. I'm just confused."

"You were cured, sweetheart." He began to take all the wires off of her.

Suddenly, Annabeth looked at her timer.

No pain.

No colors.

The only odd thing was that it was at zero. What?

"Will?"

"Ya?"

"Are you my soulmate?"

He looked at her incredulously, then burst into laughter.

"Gods no, what did my nurse put you on?"

Annabeth's cheeks colored. She raised her arm to show him.

"My timer ran out."

He nodded. "It's been out since you got here."

She decided to investigate about her soulmate later. "What exactly did you mean by cured?"

Will made his way to the door, "I mean, whoever you're so hung up on verbally returned the sentiment to you."

She shook her head. "No, he didn't."

Will shrugged, "I don't know what else to tell you. You're alive, you're vitals are perfect. Honestly, if you wanted to you could get up and run a mile right now. Do you want me to send any of your visitors in?"

The thought of seeing Percy made her heart flutter.

"Yes please."

He nodded and left the room.

...

They were keeping her overnight, just to make sure everything was looking okay. Her dad had been so happy to see her, and Piper had literally fallen on the floor when she walked into the room and saw Annabeth standing up, smiling at her.

Everyone came in to say hello and hug her until she could barely breath, except Percy.

Was he still mad at her?

She was also wondering how she was even alive. Percy hadn't said a single thing about loving her. And she also wanted to know what was going on with her timer. Instead of zero seconds, it was changing constantly again. Maybe it was adjusting to life after the syndrome.

So was Annabeth.

Around 8pm it finally settled at 00:00:00:01:38:31 and then began to count down from their.

If her timer was correct, which she doubted, in a little over and hour she would meet her soulmate.

It was currently half past nine, the hospital was quiet, and her lights had automatically turned off a while ago. Annabeth stared at her timer as hours turned to minutes and minutes to seconds. She huffed in exasperation as it began to count down from thirty. No one was here, her timer had gone insane.

And then...so soft she could barely hear it, someone knocked on the door.

Ten seconds left.

She got out of bed and smoothed down her pajamas Piper had brought her from home.

Five seconds.

She reached for the handle, opening it just as her timer went off.

"Annabeth," Percy breathed, glancing between her and her beeping timer, and his beeping timer. How...

"Percy," she said, too shocked to think of anything else. "Rachel is your soulmate, and we've know each other for years. How is this...possible?"

"Annabeth." A tear rolled down his cheek. She hadn't seen him cry since middle school. "I thought I lost you."

"Percy, you need to tell me what's going on." She opened the door wider to let him in, he went and sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"I don't know what's going on, maybe the timers made a mistake or something and they're trying to fix it."

They sat in silence for a while. She loved him, and she wanted more than anything to just sink into his chest and let him hold her, but she remembered their fight, how he didn't even want to know her, and now he was forced into being her soulmate.

"You don't have to pretend to love me or anything. I understand if you want to stay with Rachel."

"I broke up with Rachel."

"Oh." Her heart fluttered.

"Ya."

They both just stared at the wall. Even though he was only a few inches away, Annabeth couldn't help but feel like he was really far.

"I-"

"Listen-"

They both started at the same time and then stopped. She gave him a gentle smile that made his eyes glow.

Percy cleared his throat. "I don't know what to say, Beth." He put his head in his hands and sighed. "Why didn't you tell me you were in love with me?" He whispered.

So Piper had told him.

"Fear, the fact that I wasn't your soulmate, etc..."

"Me too."

She looked at him as he sat back up. "What?" She asked.

He looked at her with those eyes that made her blush even now. "That's why I didn't tell you. I wish I would have known. Gods, I could have cured you sooner. Or stopped this whole syndrome in the first place."

"I don't understand, that's why you didn't tell me what?"

Percy breathed in sharply, "you don't know."

She wasn't dumb, she knew what he was implying, but she needed him to say it.

"I'm in love with you."

Oh. Oh.

"In fact," he looked up at the ceiling and shook his head like he couldn't believe he was saying this. "I've been in love with you for the past seven years."

"Wow, seven years." Annabeth smirked. "I must have you completely wrapped around my finger."

Percy smirked that trouble maker smirk that had annoyed her for years but eventually became endearing. "You're one to talk, considering you were about ready to die because of how whipped you were."

"Hold on, Jackson, the only person whipped in this room is you."

"Oh ya?"

"Ya," she answered softly, eyes fluttering closed as Percy leaned in and kissed her.

She smiled against his lips.

"What?"

Annabeth laughed, resting her forehead against his.

"I just realized I never said it to you."

"Then say it, Wise Girl."

She breathed in, "Percy," he nodded. "You're an idiot for letting me go last week."

He pushed her off the bed

A full minute later, he came down on the floor with her, waiting expectantly.

"I love you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy laughed.

"There it is."


End file.
